Rants on Bangalore's traffic situation

This is a discussion on Rants on Bangalore's traffic situation within Street Experiences, part of the Buckle Up category; Originally Posted by poloman
This would have been a nice idea on roads like Brigade road or commercial road with ...

What irks me the most is St. Mark's Road. All that will end up happening is more people riding on the footpath. What senseless planning, seriously! If only BBMP had an FB page, they'd have been stoned left, right and center by now!

Quote:

Originally Posted by guyfrmblr

It'll be a one way even after the work is completed. Such will be the condition of the patch work that will be done after their work is completed. Idiots are not sparing even a single road in Whitefield area. They have dug up all the arterial and main roads for water and drinage pipes. These days it takes atleast 30 minutes to enter/exit EPIP zone from Whitefield side. Didn't the so called tech hub (!?) have proper water and drainage systems until now?

I drive for 40 km before reaching Whitefield and the car will be sparkling clean. The last 2-3 km drive inside Whitefield makes the car appear as though it has just done an off-road trial. I just can't imagine the plight of the residents who live in that dusty conditions.

The jam was horrendous today. A bus waiting to go, but a car wanting to go in the opposite direction. None able to move backward due a pileup of vehicles behind up. Some samaritans try to help, but some people don't want to listen. Whom can you blame? I, for instance, usually take 1 hour to reach office, but ended up taking 45 minutes extra today. Who would blame me for being a little impatient? Nonetheless, I parked the bike on the side, waited for the traffic to clear out while I basked in the sun with a black riding jacket, gloves, a balaclava, a helmet cap and a helmet. And once it got cleared out, I moved on.

The Nellurahalli Stretch is in extremely bad shape. So many, many, many, many, potholes(?). I fear we'll need a new term to describe what we experience on that road. The only alternative is Graphite India, which by itself, is not a much better option.

Someone said planning happens after development. You might want to read this:

A full length container truck has slammed in to the height restriction barrier at the railway bridge on old madras road. This is near Gopalan Mall and the blocked under pass is in the direction towards city. The impact is quite bad with the barrier fallen down and a section of it resting on the truck cabin. While there is a parallel underpass to allow traffic movement, there was a little chaos at the scene as early as 640am. Police are on site.

A full length container truck has slammed in to the height restriction barrier at the railway bridge on old madras road. This is near Gopalan Mall and the blocked under pass is in the direction towards city. The impact is quite bad with the barrier fallen down and a section of it resting on the truck cabin. While there is a parallel underpass to allow traffic movement, there was a little chaos at the scene as early as 640am. Police are on site.

Off late we have been reading news about break down of trucks. This seems to be happening almost daily on the choked bangalore roads.
Can't the govt take a strong decision to ban the entry of trucks in the city from 6 AM to 11 AM.
I know this govt is a spineless one but something has to be done.

A full length container truck has slammed in to the height restriction barrier at the railway bridge on old madras road.

Looks like all the container trucks are on prowl today. Another container truck has slammed the underpass below Maharanis college on Palace road towards the direction of K.G.Road. The truck has taken quite a beating. Police have closed the underpass towards that direction.

People going through Neeladri Nagar, Wipro EC campus etc. beware. A metal carrying truck has met with an accident and is now neatly parked on the middle of the road. Traffic jam has started.

PS: I now commute by bus, and today it took 55 mins to commute a distance of 9kms. This includes waiting time for buses etc, the biggest wait today being at EC Gate on Hosur Road :(. In car, I used to cover the same distance in 20-25 mins flat. Now the only thing I see in favour for bus travel is slightly relaxed work at office (timing not very important), and that I only spend Rs.44/- every day for commute. A litre of diesel itself costs above Rs.55.

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Nonetheless, I parked the bike on the side, waited for the traffic to clear out while I basked in the sun with a black riding jacket, gloves, a balaclava, a helmet cap and a helmet. And once it got cleared out, I moved on.

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The Nellurahalli Stretch is in extremely bad shape. So many, many, many, many, potholes(?). I fear we'll need a new term to describe what we experience on that road. The only alternative is Graphite India, which by itself, is not a much better option.

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Sometimes I wish I could ride a mountain-bike around instead of driving in this city for such reasons. Stuck in a deadlock? Hop off the bike, push it about (over a footpath even) until you're out of the deadlock, ride away. Potholes? No problem: get off the saddle and manoeuvre across them. But why not? The generally very dusty and polluted roads.

If the traffic density is heading towards a non-linear / chaotic growth in Bangalore, I hope, very soon, a lot of us would start using a mountain/BMX bike to escape the perpetual gridlocks.

If the traffic density is heading towards a non-linear / chaotic growth in Bangalore, I hope, very soon, a lot of us would start using a mountain/BMX bike to escape the perpetual gridlocks.

To be perfectly honest, I am already saturated with the traffic with my 7 month commute to Whitefield. I am on the verge of looking for opportunities elsewhere purely because of how the traffic situation is, at Whitefield.

The number of people who are employed in companies located in Whitefield is only going to increase year-on-year and I see no infrastructure improvements being made to accommodate the same. All in all, I see the scope for improvement as very, very bleak.

Spending 3 hours everyday in travel is a huge waste of productivity IMO. And cab and bus drivers are getting more rash, the roads are getting worse, people are getting more impatient. There is a continuous increase to life and limb with the way things are going in and around Whitefield.

Not just riding, I saw a car parked on it 3 weeks ago. Sure looked like a guest at hrc or thereabouts.

If you visit Tin Factory to KR Puram bus stop stretch, you'll see a truck body building shop being run on a footpath! They are working on a truck which has been parked on the footpath for days now. This city is in a mess beyond repair.

I'm fed up, to the point I've tentatively put my car up for sale (can't be bothered driving in this mess anymore) and even considered switching jobs and/or cities, but where can one go in India that isn't the same or worse?

If the traffic density is heading towards a non-linear / chaotic growth in Bangalore, I hope, very soon, a lot of us would start using a mountain/BMX bike to escape the perpetual gridlocks.

Sorry mate, that is the way we are headed. There is influx of vehicles on road daily basis, as evident from sales thread. It is filling the current road space. There is no plan to expand the roads to reduce vehicle density. So vehicular density increases everyday.

Only hope is metro, which is expected to take vehicles off road. Till then it is sad story.

Only hope is metro, which is expected to take vehicles off road. Till then it is sad story.

I don't have much hopes on the Metro as well. It may be a partial fix, but not a complete one. That is because the Metro still do NOT cover areas which sees a lot of vehicular traffic. Consider the East-West line. At present it starts from Byappanahalli, and goes to Magadi Road. This would be the first line which would be open for ful-fledged commercial traffic (end to end). Yes, it benefits a lot of people who work in Central Business District. Please note that BMTC has enough and more buses which ply towards the CBD from other parts of the city (the G series buses etc.). And I feel many people already use this, as they would find parkings too tough to get in buildings in CBD. The North-South line also may help commuters who come to the central part of the city.

But consider the the South East and North East part of Bangalore, where the maximum IT companies operate. And it would be in this sector where people would have much more vehicles (two and four wheelers). The Metro at present would not encourage any of these folks to keep their car at home and try the Metro. For example, a person staying in Peenya and working in EC, can still come on the Metro and say get down at Jayanagar. What next? He would have to rely on buses or other public transports. Same goes for Whitefield bound IT folks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nareshov

If the traffic density is heading towards a non-linear / chaotic growth in Bangalore, I hope, very soon, a lot of us would start using a mountain/BMX bike to escape the perpetual gridlocks

The city has to be de-congested by taking job opportunities else where. It is my gut feeling (and optimism) that things would slowly go that way in next 10 years. Water problem is increasing day by day. I live in the city's out-lying area. When we moved in four years back, water was aplenty. Not even a single huge flat in the vicinity. Four years down the lane, more and more flats have started coming up, the demographics in the area is changing, and the water problems have started. Rents are also increasing. Living costs are increasing as well, and Bangalore seems to have high costs for education etc.

In next 10 years this would make lots of small companies think about moving to Tier II cities. Network infrastructure, inter-city commute etc. are all improving. Small companies, who do not require a large work force (i.e not Infosys, not Wipro or any of the large BPOs) can easily move to a Tier II city. So if people can get into the right band wagon at the right time, perhaps they can move over to another smaller city of their choice.

In next 10 years this would make lots of small companies think about moving to Tier II cities. Network infrastructure, inter-city commute etc. are all improving. Small companies, who do not require a large work force (i.e not Infosys, not Wipro or any of the large BPOs) can easily move to a Tier II city. So if people can get into the right band wagon at the right time, perhaps they can move over to another smaller city of their choice.

Agree with the point on metro. Phase 1 does not touch the most chaotic IT areas and hence will not help much. Once Phase 2 (which involves the extension to ITPL and the new line from RV Road to EC) completes, it may help to some extent.

There is a 3rd phase which has a line from Carmelaram on Sarjapur Road to Yelehanka, Nagavara to Airport, and coverage of ORR. Once all this is done, Bangalore City as it is today will mostly get covered.

But this is probably 10-15 years down the line.

On Tier 2 Cities, the question is: Are the Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities learning from the mistakes of the Tier 1 Cities and taking steps with a long term vision in mind. I personally don't think so. The Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities I know are already congested and struggling with the same infrastructure and management challenges being faced by the big cities.

A lot of the big real estate space deals happening are still happening in Bangalore. As long as the infrastructure and facilities within the campuses meet international standards, I don't think most of the companies care about the struggles the employees need to face to reach office.

The biggest problem with Bangalore Metro: they seem to have completely forgotten to include 'park & ride' provisions. Most stations (esp. in the core city areas) I see have minimal or non-existent parking lots, so Metro is practically a no-go for anyone not living reasonably close to the stations. Also, given the speed at which work is progressing, who knows how the city's commuting dynamics would change by the time the whole network is functional.

Lower tier cities suffer from the exact same problems. My home-base Bhopal (M.P.) is beginning to see some small-scale MNC activity (mostly telecom majors), and it's already struggling to cope. It's the same story pretty much everywhere.

It's futile to expect employers to care about commuting woes either, at least in India.